Research Papers

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Personal Research

I became enamored of these little critters during a trip to Mexico (Cancun, Merida) in December 2001. During my next trip to the area (Costa Rica in November 2002), I decided to mix in some research with my vacation, and this seems to have become a lasting pattern, as evidenced by our most recent trip to Mexico (Puerto Vallarta/Nuevo Vallarta) in November 2003 and my trip to Texas in 2006, which was specifically made in order to study Atta texana!

• Sunjian A and LI H. (2006) A survey of Atta texana on the southern tip of Texas. Notes from Underground 11 (2) - Dec 2006
  
  
• Sunjian A and LI H. (2006) Do Soldier "Barracks" in Atta leafcutter ants exist and are they adaptive? Notes from Underground 11 (2) - Dec 2006
  
  
• Sunjian A and LI H. (2005) Task partitioning during nest excavation in the leafcutter ant Atta mexicana. Notes from Underground 11 (1) - May 2005
  
  
• Sunjian A and LI H. (2005) Did the Texas Bonanza Era in 1876-1930 facilite the spread of Atta texana into Louisiana?. Notes from Underground 11 (1) - May 2005
  
  
• Sunjian A and LI H. (2005) Atta mexicana in the resort community of Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. Notes from Underground 11 (1) - May 2005
  
  
• Sunjian A and LI H. (2005) Behavioral plasticity in soldiers of Atta mexicana and its adaptive significance in urban environments. Notes from Underground 11 (1) - May 2005.
  
  
• Sunjian A and Li H. (2003) A Survey of Leafcutter Ants from the Southern Tip of the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica. Notes from Underground 10 (1)
  
  
• Sunjian A (2003) Interactions between a leaf-cutting ant, Acromyrmex coronatus, and a Neotropical army ant, Eciton burchelli, in La Fortuna, Costa Rica . Notes from Underground 9 (2)

Popular Articles

• D O U G L A S F O S T E R, Small Matters
  
  
• Treated like Garbage. New Scientist (In Brief) 20th January 2001 P19
  
  
• Waste managers of the ant world. The Independent (the Friday Review) 20th April 2001 P8

PDF files on the Web

• Anderson, C., and J.L. Jadin. 2001. The adaptive value of leaf transfer in Atta colombica. Insectes Sociaux 48(4): 404-405. ()
  
  
• Back?us S., Barck H., Bylund K. and Orrmalm C., Leaf transportation by the leaf cutting ant, Atta colombica, in sun exposed and shaded environments
  
  
• D.L. KULHAVY, L.A. SMITH, and W.G. ROSS, Impact of the Texas Leaf-Cutting Ant (Atta texana (Buckley)) on a Forested Landscape
  
  
• Adam Hart, Francis Ratniek, Leaf caching in Atta leafcutting ants: discrete cache formation
  
  
• Hart, A. G. 2002. Does disease threat cause colony emigrations in the leafcutting ant Atta colombica (Guer)? Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 138: 41. ()
  
  
• Hart, A. G. 2001 "I am just going outside and may be some time* - a note on pre-death behaviour of leafcutting ant queens and some speculation as to its meaning. Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 236. ()
  
  
• Hart AG, Bot ANM & Brown MJF. A colony-level response to disease control in a leafcutting ant. Naturwissenschaften 89: 275-277. ()
  
  
• Hart, A.G., C. Anderson, and F.LW. Ratnieks. 2002. Task partitioning in leafcutting ants. Acta ethologica 5: 1-11. ()
  
  
• Hart, A. G. and Ratnieks, F. L. W. 2002. Waste Management in the leafcutting ant Atta colombica. Behavioral Ecology 13: 224-231. ()
  
  
• Hart, A. G. and F. L. W. Ratnieks. 2001. Leaf caching in the leafcutting ant Atta colombica: organizational shift, task partitioning and making the best of a bad job. Animal Behaviour 62:227-234. ()
  
  
• Hart, A. G. and F. L. W. Ratnieks. 2001. Task partitioning, division of labour and nest compartmentalisation collectively isolate hazardous waste in the leafcutting ant Atta cephalotes. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 49:387-392. ()
  
  
• Jos? V. Hern?ndez1, Catalina Ramos2, Mitzy Borjas2 and Klaus Jaffe, Growth of Atta laevigata (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Nests In Pine Plantations
  
  
• Johnson, R. A., and S. W. Rissing. 1993. Breeding biology of the leaf- Cutter ant Acromyrmex versicolor (Pergande) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 66:127-128.
  
  
• J. S. LaPolla, U. G. Mueller, M. Seid, and S. P. Cover Predation by the army ant Neivamyrmex rugulosus on the fungus-growing ant Trachymyrmex arizonensis, Insectes soc. 49 (2002) 251 ? 256
  
  
• Mueller, U.G., and B. Wolf-Mueller. 1991. Epiphyll deterrence to the leafcutter ant Atta cephalotes. Oecologia 86: 36-39. ()
  
  
• Mueller, U.G., S.A. Rehner, and T.D. Schultz, 1998. The evolution of agriculture in ants. Science 281: 2034-2038. ()
  
  
• Sanchez-Pena, S., and U.G. Mueller. 2002. A nocturnal raid of Nomamyrmex army ants on Atta leaf-cutting ants in Tamaulipas, Mexico. Southwestern Entomologist 27: 221-223. ()
  
  
• Rissing, S. W., R. A. Johnson, and G. B. Pollock. 1986. Natal nest distribution and pleometrosis in the leafcutter ant Acromyrmex versicolor. Psyche 93:177-186.
  
  
• Wetterer et al.: FORAGING AND NESTING ECOLOGY OF ACROMYRMEX OCTOSPINOSUS

PDF files Archived

• Weber, N. A. 1968. Tobago Island fungus-growing ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Entomol. News 74: 141-145.
  
  
• Weber, N. A. 1968. The Panamanian Atta species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Proc. Entomol. Soc. Wash. 70: 348-350.
  
  
• Weber, N. A. 1969. Ecological relations of three Atta species in Panama. Ecology 50: 141-147.

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